She was a baby then, but old enough to be feral and not able to socialize. She was very curious, always watching us, interacting from a safe distance.

She was trapped, spayed and released back to her colony. I did not manage this colony, but when one of the feeders was hit and killed by a truck, I filled in until the community started feeding regularly.

She knew the sound of my voice, and came running when she heard my bike. She was adorable. I stopped feeding there, because they didn't need me anymore, and after that I popped by once in a while on a run or bike ride to say hello.

In 2012, North Brooklyn Cats received a call that an exterminator was trapping cats at this colony. I headed over and there it was, a set trap laying in a puddle, from the thunderstorm the night before..., with the exterminator company's tag on it. I tripped the trap and, long story short, a summer long rescue mission was underway. Hitch was in terrible shape and something had changed with her. She no longer interacted with her colony and was very skittish (more than feral skittish, something else) - we found out she went missing for a while, and returned very different. We have no idea what happened. We relocated 4 of the remaining 6. Hitch came to my warehouse colony.

She did very well here and was happy. She greeted me when I arrived, and followed me around while I refilled the feeders, waterers and litter boxes.

Changes at this warehouse left Hitch in trouble again. She was very scared and uncomfortable and was living in a very tiny space in the ceiling. It was time for her to move on. But she's already lost 2 homes, is fearful, and another relocation just isn't an option. It's incredibly difficult to relocate ferals, and it's always risky.

When we showed up to trap, she immediately headed down to the warehouse floor and got into a small corner where we couldn't reach her - either by trap or net.

The next week, we showed up with netting to net off that whole area, and set traps at every escape point. We got her!

She saw the vet, looks good, tested negative for FIV and FELV, her blood work is out for analysis and she received vaccination boosters and parasite control.

The estimate to get Hitch safely to her sanctuary is $800. The sanctuary fee is $350, the vet bill was $370 (copy available upon request) and the fuel estimate for next week's journey is $80.

She's ready to go! We just need a little help from our friends! Anything you can spare is appreciated.

Very soon, Hitch will be in a safe, well maintained, feral cat sanctuary. She'll be surrounded by trees, grass and fresh air. I hope she'll again be happy and worry-free. Please help!

Update:
Thank you for your help! We raised the funds, and enough to do more TNR later this season. I usually track TNR efforts on a different blog, For Cats' Sake. You can see the post about her going to sanctuary there: Hitch Goes to Sanctuary.

Big City Little Kitty Foster Home

About Me

I TNR when I can and foster kittens from TNR projects of my own, for TNR groups and rescue groups. I am not an organization, just one person pitching in to help.
See my friends and my adoptable cats and kittens here: www.bigcitylittlekitty.petfinder.com Big City Little Kitty (www.bigcitylittlekitty.com) is my foster blog and For Cats' Sake (www.tnrnyc.com) is my TNR blog.
bigcitylittlekitty@yahoo.com